San Francisco bars set to require proof of vaccination

The San Francisco Bar Owner Alliance has come out in support of establishments requiring proof of vaccination to be admitted inside. Yahoo Finance's Dani Romero share show the hospitality industry could be impacted.

Video Transcript

- There was a time when if you went to a restaurant you got carded and it meant you had to prove that you were of age to be able to drink adult beverages legally. Today in some places getting carded means you have the COVID-19 card to prove you got a vaccine. There's a growing number of restaurants and bars in the city of San Francisco which actually require customers to show proof that they've been vaccinated in order for them to enter the establishment.

Let's bring in Yahoo Finance correspondent Dani Romero to talk about this. And did-- do any of these bars or restaurants talk about the fact that these cards, you can just Xerox it and forge it?

DANI ROMERO: No, they have not brought that up, but that is a good point. I mean, they do recommend you to not, you know, make it-- what's the term? I'm trying to think of it, where you--

- Fraudulent.

DANI ROMERO: --can Xerox it and make copies of it. But yeah, there is that recommendation, right, that they don't want you to do that in case of those booster shots, right? But, you know, there's a lot of talk right now about those vaccine passports, and, you know, helping you get to where you need to go, and you know, this may be the first example of that here in California. So I mean, like you said, don't leave home without it because you will get carded, and not for your age. It has nothing to do with your age anymore.

So we just learned today that the San Francisco's Bar Owner Alliance that represents 500 bars, bar owners in the area is now requiring proof of vaccination or a negative test to enter any bar. The founder of the Alliance sent us this statement that reads, in part-- "Effective Thursday, July 29, 2021, it will be the official position of the SF Bar Owner Alliance that any customer who wishes to remain inside our establishments show proof of vaccination or a 72-hour negative COVID-19 test." So now unvaccinated guests can still sit outside in the parklets or other spaces in the bar-- that the bar offers, but it will be up to that individual bar owner to decide how they will enforce the new mandate.

And we did reach out to the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, which represents over 1,000 local businesses in the area, and the CEO there tells us they are informally reaching out to small business owners that are members about also implementing a mandate. Nothing has been finalized, but some bar owners took to Facebook to say they are enforcing proof of vaccination. And here's an example of that from the SF Oasis, a bar and nightclub in San Francisco who advised their customers that they need to show their vaccine card or a negative COVID test.

- So Dani, I'd imagine that the restaurant industry across the country is sort of really watching what's happening there in San Francisco. I mean, do you think that this could be a blueprint for, for other cities across the country, and might we see more announcements like this in the coming weeks?

DANI ROMERO: Definitely. I think we're already starting to see that. In LA there are dozens, more than dozens, of bar owners that are already enforcing this proof of vaccination, and I think that this is just a start. We're going to start seeing this more and more in the future, especially as this Delta variant continues to be a concern.

- Dani, we appreciate the update. Life is so much easier when a 16-year-old presented an ID card that said they were 48 and was trying to get into an establishment. All the best to you.